November 17, 2014

Trapped

A Westminster man trapped for three days between two walls of a Longmont business unsuccessfully attempted to pass distress notes outside.

One of them was written on his probation officer's business card.

"You can't make this stuff up," Longmont police Sgt. Cage said late Tuesday.

The Longmont Fire Department on Tuesday morning spent about a half hour freeing Paul Felyk from a vacant space between interior and exterior walls at the Marshalls Store at 205 Ken Pratt Blvd., eventually employing a K-12 saw and cutting a large hole in the side of the building.

Marshalls employees told police that they had heard a man yelling on Monday but didn't know where he was. On Tuesday, they again heard the man yelling and determined he was yelling through a hole in a back wall. He sounded like he was in pain, and a manager called police.

Cage said Felyk was unable to push the notes under the interior wall, and they were later found by first responders. [...]

Felyk dated one of the notes Nov. 8, leading police to believe that he had been stuck in between the walls since Saturday.

After firefighters opened the hold in the exterior wall, Felyk crawled out, lay down on a gurney and was whisked away to Longmont United Hospital.

Cage said the incident is being investigated as a possible burglary or trespassing and that charges are pending. Police also are looking into suspicious incidents at neighboring businesses involving their heating and electrical systems.